[2][3] The Diocese of New Mexico comprises the counties of Rio Arriba, Taos, Colfax, Union, Mora, Harding, Los Alamos, Sandoval, Santa Fe, San Miguel, Quay, Bernalillo, Valencia, Socorro, Torrance, Guadalupe, De Baca, Roosevelt, and Curry.

During the 1650's, the Spanish governor of New Mexico, Bernardo López de Mendizábal, attempted to protect the Puebloans' rights by enforcing labor laws and allowing them to hold their own religious ceremonies.

He forced the remaining 1,500 Spanish inhabitants, along with 500 of their Puebloan slaves, to flee Santa Fe to El Paso del Norte in present-day Chihuahua.

The insurgents finally cleansed themselves in a ritual bath [10] In 1692, the Spanish regained control of Santa Fe from the Puebloans and the Franciscan priests returned with them.

In 1833, Pope Gregory XVI appointed Reverend José Antonio Laureano de Zubiría y Escalante, a Mexican cleric, as bishop of Durango.

On July 19, 1850, Pope Pius IX erected the Vicariate Apostolic of Santa Fe, which included all of New Mexico and parts of Texas and Arizona.

However, Reverend Juan Felipe Ortiz, administrator of the Catholic Church in New Mexico, told Lamy that he and his Mexican priests were still under the jurisdiction of Zubiría.

Many of the new priests believed that assimilation to American culture was vital, and they used racist ideas to justify the changes that they were making to the Catholic Church.

He also banned concubinage and excommunicated five Mexican priests who were in sexual relationships with women, including Reverend José Manuel Gallegos.

Reverend Antonio José Martínez from Taos, New Mexico, compiled a list of grievances against Lamy, cosigned by many Mexican priests.

[24] The archdiocese announced it would file for bankruptcy protection on November 29, 2018, in the wake of dozens of ongoing lawsuits stemming from a sexual abuse scandal that stretches back decades.

In October 2020, a bankruptcy judge ruled that abuse survivors could file lawsuits alleging these transfers were a fraudulent attempt to avoid bigger payouts to victims.

[27] It has also been alleged that such a strategy fits into a larger pattern of similar asset-shielding from abuse-related bankruptcy filings nationwide by the Catholic Church.

Construction was not finished until 1884, by which time, the diocese had become the archdiocese, and the cathedral – dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi – became its mother church.

The interior reflects the pastel colors of New Mexico; The pews are made of blonde wood, and the walls and columns are painted a dusky pink with pale-green trimmings.

Built in 1714, this tiny chapel houses La Conquistadora, the oldest Madonna in the United States, brought by Franciscan Friars in 1626.

[citation needed] On June 15, 2005, Archbishop Sheehan announced that Pope Benedict XVI had designated the cathedral a basilica.